Louis van Gaal has revealed that he attempted to bring star attacker Sadio Mane to Old Trafford when he was in charge at Manchester United.
The Senegal forward, who was ruled out of the World Cup in Qatar with a knee injury, instead joined Premier League rivals Liverpool in 2016 and went on to win six major trophies with the Merseyside outfit, including the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
Mane left Jurgen Klopp's side in the summer, making the move to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. Before the break in the domestic season, the 30-year-old had registered 11 goals and four assists in 23 appearances.
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However, things could have been very different for Mane, had Van Gaal managed to secure his signature during his stint as United boss between 2014 and 2016. The Netherlands manager lauded the Senegalese attacker during a press conference ahead of the World Cup on Sunday.
"I wanted him when I was the manager at Man Utd," Van Gaal said. "I chased him at the time. I am a fan of Mane. He can break open a match and I would say Senegal will really miss him."
Van Gaal, who won the FA Cup with the Reds during his time at Old Trafford, is currently preparing his team to face off against Senegal in their opening match at the Qatar World Cup on Monday.
Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk, who sat alongside his manager during the press conference, admitted that he rang Mane to see how he was doing after it was confirmed that the ex-Liverpool man would be sidelined for the tournament.
He said: "I called him the next day in the morning and obviously I wanted to know how he was, first and foremost because there were so many rumours coming out that he was injured for a while.
"I wanted just to know how he was. Unfortunately it was not the best news he had and but there was a little bit of hope, everyone thought it, but unfortunately he wasn't going to be able to make this tournament."
"I feel sad for him. I know how hard he works and he wants to be important for Senegal and he has been important over the past few years. It's tough," Van Dijk added.
"Obviously he's going to be a big miss for Senegal. Hopefully we can benefit from it a little bit."
Mane - who scored twice against United in 14 matches - registered three goals and two assists, and scored the winning penalty during the final, as Senegal defeated Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year.
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